AAA Mid-Atlantic: High Grass on Highways a Hazard

By: Angela Pellerano, WTVR
Commentary:

There are hidden effects of the global economic recession that are still being realized – especially in the public sector. States have made a lot of the tough cuts to their budgets and if the current economic uptick continues – they should start to see some slight relief. If nothing else, hopefully the need to find further cuts will ease.

In the meantime, state budget managers are becoming experts in shifting focus and dousing fires. One thing is for certain through this entire process of cutting and adding funds back in, state and local managers are determining which programs are mission critical based on the fall-out from cutting any one program. The article mentions one instance of an unanticipated consequence of budget cuts and the reduction of resources to do what was probably considered to be a non-essential activity. It has likely caused a bit of a safety hazard.

It seems as though there are a number of road and bridge maintenance projects that have launched over the past several months. Federal funding along with state DOT officials are recognizing the risk that certain road conditions are starting to pose for travelers. There are also some likely job creation benefits to these programs once underway – jobs that states sorely need to help shore up the tax revenue shortfalls and unemployment payment obligations that come as a result

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